World

Can anyone stop Dafne Schippers? That is the question which lingers over the battle for sprint supremacy in Portland, with the Dutch speedster a worthy favourite to take her first title at the IAAF World Indoor Championships.

Quanera Hayes and Ashley Spencer showed just how fast the Portland track could be when they finished first and second at the US Indoor Championships on Saturday in 51.09 and 51.29 to make themselves the favourites for the third consecutive US gold medal in this event.

Two years ago in Sopot, Poland, Mohammed Aman of Ethiopia spoiled the party for the hosts, defeating home favourites Adam Kszczot and Marcin Lewandowski to take gold in the men’s 800m and become – at 18 years, 61 days – the youngest ever champion at the IAAF World Indoor Championships.

All three medallists from the IAAF World Indoor Championships Sopot 2014 will be in Portland: defending champion Ayanleh Souleiman of Djibouti, Ethiopia’s Aman Wote and Morocco’s Abdalaati Iguider, who won the indoor crown in 2012.

In the absence of world record-holder Genzebe Dibaba – who has chosen to focus on the 3000m – the path appears clear for one of her Ethiopian teammates to step into the breach and take gold. To do so, however, they will have to overcome the formidable challenge of a former compatriot: Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands.

Such has been the supremacy of Genzebe Dibaba in recent years that her races have developed a sense of inevitability, one that – despite the presence of four-time world indoor champion Meseret Defar in Portland – appears to be the case ahead of the women’s 3000m final on Sunday afternoon.

Portland may well be a third time lucky for Pascal Martinot-Lagarde. Bronze medallist in 2012 and runner-up in 2014, the tall Frenchman hopes to finally achieve the first 60m hurdles gold for his country since Stephane Caristan won at the World Indoor Games in Paris in 1985.

With US athletes occupying 11 of the top 14 spots on the 2016 world list, it’s highly likely the hosts will have a gold medal – and possibly even a clean sweep of the medals – to celebrate when the final takes place on Friday night.

The extrovert Italian Gianmarco Tamberi leads the world lists with his 2.38m national record that he cleared in Hustopece and he is unbeaten in all four of his competitions this winter, never jumping less than 2.33m..

European champion Ruth Beitia already has the accolade of being the oldest ever medallist in this event after her bronze in Sopot two years ago and the 36-year-old Spaniard could well extend that statistic in Portland following her 1.98m clearance at the Spanish Championships last month.